My final stop on this California too was to be the great city of Los Angeles. It is a long, tedious drive from San Diego along interstates that look much the same, but the final destination was somewhere special. Dockweiler State Beach stands between the end of LAX airport and the Pacific Ocean.
It is by no means the prettiest campsite you will ever see. It is just a large car park that has electric hookup, sewer and water but then it does not have to try to hard. You step off the site and directly onto the beach. What else do you need?
Hatty made several very good friends and we did not really see that much of her. From early in the morning until the last light was fading over the horizon she was playing.
Since we were there for a few days I organized a few activities. Matt humored me by accompanying me to see the USS Iowa. I love visiting big ships and the US is that last place you can go on a real battleship. Iowa was the lead ship of her class and fought in World War 2 before being reactivated for the Cold War (losing some of her conventional weapons for the cruise missiles).
It is by no means the prettiest campsite you will ever see. It is just a large car park that has electric hookup, sewer and water but then it does not have to try to hard. You step off the site and directly onto the beach. What else do you need?
Hatty made several very good friends and we did not really see that much of her. From early in the morning until the last light was fading over the horizon she was playing.
Since we were there for a few days I organized a few activities. Matt humored me by accompanying me to see the USS Iowa. I love visiting big ships and the US is that last place you can go on a real battleship. Iowa was the lead ship of her class and fought in World War 2 before being reactivated for the Cold War (losing some of her conventional weapons for the cruise missiles).
Matt didn't seem quite as keen as me.
I still want to go on a Nimitz class super-carrier but that will have to wait.
The others spent their time on the beach and poor Ben caught rather too much of the sun. He would have been better staying in Needles. To alleviate the situation I proposed we go somewhere with air-conditioning. There was a Dave & Buster's nearby and we could go play some arcade games. It's a serious business.
For those who have not have the pleasure - typically the games at Dave & Buster's give you tickets which you can trade in for prizes. I won't pretend we were all contributing as much but we did rather well in our ticket collection.
Harriet got a telescope out of this haul.
LA is a fantastic city, much maligned but full of life. Where else could we have sat on a beautiful beach and watch the sun bid us all farewell. The fires you see are from parties taking place on the beach. I'm sure they were all enjoying their cases of sodas and back remedies. Don't worry, our lips are sealed.
Sadly for me, it was back in First Class and off to New York.
